Book gluing method and means



H. SIEB 2,746,879

BOOK GLUING METHOD AND MEANS C' Sheets-Sheet 1 90s as aw Q? a? swam.awaa wa em em May 22, 1956 Filed Aug. 25, 1953 May 22, 1956 H. SIEB BOOKGLUING METHOD AND MEANS 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Aug. 25, 1953 UMHH MIH WHW HHM May 22, 1956 H. SIEB BOOK GLUING METHOD AND MEANS 3 Sheets-Sheet3 Filed Aug. 25, 1953 BOOK GLUING METHOD AND MEANS Henry Sieb, Hammond,Ind. Application August 25, 1953, Serial No. 376,367 17 Claims. (Cl.117-44) In the manufacture of books having hard covers, glue must beapplied to the back edges of the books and be allowed to dry before thecovers are added. The conventional book is composed of a plurality ofsections stitched together, giving the rear edge a corduroy effect.Furthermore, each conventional book contains blank sheets at oppositesides, known as end sheets; these being glued to the inner sides of thecovers in the process of completing the book.

Books may receive their glue coatings one at a time, but the moreefficient and less costly way is to place the glue on a group of booksat the same time; the number in each group depending mainly on thethickness of the books and the usable length of the roller whichtransfers the glue to the books.

When books are treated in groups serious difiiculties are encountered.Books are stacked to allow the glue to dry. Where a group of books,standing on edge and arranged side by side, travel over a glue-coatedroller, the gluing effect is the same as though the group constituted asingle thick book. Namely, glue enters not only the valleys in theribbed rear edge of each book but also enters the valleys registeringwith the planes of contact between the books. Therefore, unless thebooks in each group are separated before the glue is permitted to dry,they will remain glued together after the glue has become dry.

Books that remain glued to each other must be torn apart before coverscan be applied. This not only involves costly labor but, when the bondbetween two books is anything but a light one, the end sheets are tornin the separating process.

Heretofore the only alternative to the separating process justdescribed, has been to employ men or women to take each group of booksas it leaves the glue-applying machine and reform it into one whereinglue coated edges alternate with bare edges; this being done by stackingthe books one at a time in alternately reversed positions, so as toseparate all glued edges from each other by means of intervening bareedges. This manual reversing of the books is a costly procedure.

Another problem in book gluing is that of preserving the integrity ofthe glue coatings after the books pass beyond the glue-applying roller.To this end the books have sometimes been allowed to travel over a bedof light, idle rollers on their way to the discharge point. Thispractice has the fault that, as such rollers have heretofore beenconstructed, they remove more or less glue from the book edges and soonbecome ineffective.

The present invention has for its objects to solve the aforesaidproblems in a simple manner, to effect a great saving in labor costs,avoid all danger of damage to end sheets, and to ensure that books, whendried, will have thereon, in proper condition, the glue originallyapplied thereto.

In carrying out my invention I may use any conventional glue-applyingroller but, after a glue coating has been created on the roller, Iscrape off the glue in those States Patent regions which thereafterregister with the valleys between adjacent books in a group passing overthe roller. By scraping in this manner, just before the books contactthe scraped surface, the glue does not have time to flow into thecleared space from opposite sides, before contact is made with thebooks.

In order to avoid disturbance of the glue coating on the books as theytravel beyond the glue-applying roller, I employ little book supportingrollers that are star shaped in cross section, so that only sharp edgescontact the books. And, in addition, these small rollers are mounted insuch a manner that they may easily be driven, without slippage, by booksmoving across the same; the mounting also permitting the rollersthemselves to be removed and replaced quickly and without effort.

It is often desirable to apply an excessive amount of glue to books. Insuch cases considerable glue drips from the books while they are movingto the discharge point. Enough glue may run down on the aforesaidimproved supporting rollers to cause some flow along the rollers andinto the areas that were intentionally left without any glue coating.

A further object of the present invention is to permit the practice ofexcessive glue application to be followed without encountering thedifiiculties just mentioned as being inherent in that practice.

In carrying out this feature of my invention I make use of a unique typeof brush which forces the glue up between the sections of each book andwipes off excess glue, without causing any glue to enter betweenadjacent books.

The various features of novelty whereby the present invention ischaracterized will hereinafter be pointed out with particularity in theclaims, but, for a full understanding of the invention and of itsobjects and advantages, reference may be had to the following detaileddescription taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a vertical, longitudinal section through a machine similarto that disclosed in my Patent No. 2,169,114, modified in accordancewith the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the glue applying means and the adjacentidle rollers that receive books from the glue applying rollers;

Fig. 3 is a view showing fragments of the glue applying roller and fourbooks receiving glue from the latter;

Fig. 4 is a top plan view, on an enlarged scale, of one of the scrapersfor scraping circumferential, narrow bands of glue from the glueapplying roller;

Fig. 5 is a side view of the scraper shown in Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is an end view, also on an enlarged scale, of one of the smallbook supporting rollers, together with a fragment of one of the rails inwhich the ends of these rollers are mounted;

Fig. 7 is a section on line 7-7 of Fig. 6, with the roller proper shownin elevation;

Fig. 8 is an end view of the brush for removing surplus glue from books,mounted in the holder therefor;

Fig. 9 is a side elevation of the brush and its holder, parts beingbroken away to show in section portions of both the brush and theholder;

Fig. 10 is a section on line 10-10 of Fig. 9, showing only the holder;

Fig. 11 is an edge view of one of the spring clips for creating gaps inthe brush, the broken lines indicating the partially spread conditionwhen engaged with the brush holder; and

Fig. 12 is a view showing, on a larger scale, a portion of the brush andits holder in contact with books that are passing beyond the glueapplying roller.

The present invention is adapted for use in both small hand operatedmachines and in large automatic power driven machines. The presentinvention is not concerned with the general structure of such machines;but, by way of example, there is illustrated in Fig. 1 the gluing anddischarge end of the machine disclosed in the aforesaid patent, modifiedin accordance with the present invention. In this machine there is amain frame structure 1, in which is mounted a glue pot 2. The framestructure is open at the top, a horizontal bed or table 3 serving tosupport a group of books until they reach the glue pot. Above the bed ortable is a long resilient member 4 adapted to rest on top of a group ofbooks while on the table and for at least a part of their journey acrossthe glue pot. In the glue pot is a large transverse roller 5 that dipsinto glue G in the pot. The top of this roller is in the plane of theupper surface of the bed or table 4 which extends well over the roller,so that books may slide off the bed or table onto the roller withoutbeing raised or lowered. Roller 5 is provided with a sprocket and chaindrive 6, shown only in Fig. 2, so as to rotate in the counterclockwisedirection as viewed in Fig. 1. Engaged with the rising face of roller 5,at a level no higher than the axis of the latter, is a scraping roller7, of small diameter, to determine the thickness of the layer or coatingof glue carried up by the main roller. Groups of books, standing on edgeand side by side, are moved along the table and across and beyond theglue pot by an endless ladderlike conveyor 8; the rungs 8 of the ladderextending crosswise of the machine and engaging the books at a levelhigher than the table and lower than member 4.

The first feature of the present invention constitutes an addition tothe old apparatus just decribed.

The present application is a continuation in part of my priorapplication bearing the same title, Ser. No. 361,895, and filed June 16,1953, now abandoned.

It will be seen (Figs. 1 and 2) that there is supported, not far fromthe under side of table 3, a stationary square cross bar 9. On this barare detachably mounted a plurality of finger-like holders 10 for smallscraper elements. Each holder is shown as being composed of two mainsections, 11 and 12, .slidably connected for adjusting the length of theholder. The two sections may be locked against relative movements by ascrew 14 that extends into section 11 through a slot 15 in section 12.Section 11 has at its free end an open jaw 16 that embraces bar 9 onthree sides. A set screw 17, extending through one arm of the jaw, isadapted to engage this bar to fix the holder to the latter.

At the tip of section 12 of each holder is a second, smaller jaw inwhich is gripped a small scraping element 18. This second jaw is shownas being simply a two step configuration on the upper side of theholder, together with a clamping plate 19 resting on the upper step 20and overlying the scraping element resting on the lower step 21. Plate19 is held down by a screw 22 passing through the same into section 12.

Scraping element 18-should be of softer material than that of which theglue applying roller 5 is made, so as not to mar the surface of theroller. Ordinarily, scraping elements that are somewhat flexible andresilient (rubber, for example, is quite satisfactory) are preferable todevices that are rigid. The width of the free end of the scraper shouldbe about as great or slightly greater than the distance'between thepoints of contact of two book sections and roller 5; each book B in Fig.3 being shown as containing five sections b. A width of about threesixteenths of an inch will ordinarily sufiice.

The holders are so positioned that the scraping elements touch theglue-applying roller near the top of the latter, only a short distancefrom the line along which books engage with the-roller.

In my aforesaid 'patent the books pass onto .a series of littletransverse idle rollers to the discharge point. Although these rollersare knurled so as not to wipe too much glue off the books, they are notwholly satisfactory and quickly cover themselves with glue. The secondfeature of my invention provides means to overcome the defects in thefunctioning of these supporting rollers and makes it easy to maintainthem in perfect working condition with very little effort.

I still use book supporting idle rollers but the new rollers 24 areprovided with high ribs 25 on their peripheries to create deep valleysbetween the same. These ribs are arranged spirally of the rollers, inthe manner of multiple screw threads; whereby all jarring action on thebooks passing over them is avoided. The number of ribs may be varied,eight ribs being shown on each roller to give the latter, in crosssection, the configuration of an eight-pointed star. The ribs have sharpridges and are about one quarter of an inch high. On the ends of therollers are trunnions 26. On these trunnions are cylindrical ballbearing assemblies 27, the inner rotatable sleeve elements 28 of whichare lightly held in place on the trunnions by friction.

The rollers are supported by rails 29 extending lengthwise of themachine, the bearing units or assemblies being simply set into openbearings 30 in the upper edges of these rails. Only a light touch isneeded to turn the rollers, thereby insuring that the rollers offer noappreciable resistance to rotation as the books pass over them; butrotate freely without tending to scrape glue off the books.

Because of the spiral disposition of the ribs the support for the booksis as even as though the rollers were plain cylinders while, at the sametime, line contact along sharp ridges is maintained.

To prepare the machine for operation, the scraper holders 10 areadjusted on the supporting bar 9 so that the spacing betweenlongitudinal axes conforms to the spacings of the planes of contactbetween the books in a group which is to be handled as a unit; and theholders are locked in these adjusted positions. There should be one morescraper than there are books. In Fig. 3, for example, there are fourbooks, and so five scrapers should be used, as in Fig. 2, to create thefive bands 31 shown in Fig. 3.

With the holders adjusted so that the little scraping tabs or lips 18bear properly against the glue-applying roller 5, and the machine inmotion: roller 5 picks up a glue coating G in the usual way, and as itrevolves, scrapers 18 clear off the glue in a manner to leave barenarrow bands 31 extending circumferentiaily around the roller. Thesebands register with the planes of contact between the books and with thecorresponding planes containing the outermost sides of the books in eachgroup. Therefore no glue is applied to any book at what maybe termed ajoint between two books in side contact with each other, whether they bepart of one of the aforesaid groups or be contacting books between twosuch groups placed in stack for, for example.

Because the scraping oil the glue takes place only a short distance fromthe line of contact between roller 5 and the books resting on the same,no opportunity is given the glue to flow onto the bared surface of theroller from opposite sides of the bands. Consequently there is no dangerof any glue reaching surfaces on the books that could cause the books tobecome bonded to each other.

No change in the condition of the books occurs as they pass out of theglue-receiving zone and to the delivery point, provided that thegluecoating is very thin. This is due to the fact that there can be nosmearing of the glue on the books by the little supporting rollers 24;the books having only line contact with the sharp edges of the ribs onthese rollers, and the only movements of these rollers being caused bythe books. These rollers offer no appreciable resistance to rotation andtherefore,

as soon as one of the sharp edges of a rib contacts a book, it travelsalong with the book until, finally, it swings down and away from thebook. Thus the books reach the discharge point with their glue coatingsin a virgin state and with the areas that were left uncoated remaininguncoated.

When glue is applied so thickly that dripping of glue from the booksoccurs as the books move on, it is customary to use a brush to wipe offthe xcess glue. However, the conventional brush would destroy theadvantage resulting from scraping the glue from the glue roller inband-like, circumferential areas, since the brush would spread the glueover the areas that had been left uncoated.

In accordance with the present invention I make it possible to brush offexcess glue without spreading any into the cusps or crevices betweenmeeting books.

The preferred construction is one wherein a long brush 35 is setdetachably into a trough-like holder 36 having at its ends bosses 37adapted to fit into the seats 30 in the roller-supporting rails 29. Inthe arrangement shown, one of the group of rollers 24, namely the secondroller from the glue roller is omitted and the brush holder issubstituted therefor.

The brush comprises a thick, slab-like back 38 containing holes 39 inwhich the lower ends of clusters of long bristles 4a are seated andanchored in any conventional or suitable way. The back of the brush mayrest on the bottom wall of the holder or on screws 41 extending upthrough such wall for the purpose of adjusting the brush in the verticaldirection. The bristles project only a short distance above the top ofthe holder so as to act in the stiff manner of short bristles, althoughthey are actually long and flexible. When the free standing portions ofthe bristles are an inch long, for example, they need not project morethan an eighth of an inch above the holder.

It will be seen that holder 36 has on the long vertical sides, neartheir upper edges, grooves 42 that extend throughout the length of theholder. These grooves serve to interlock with the holder bristlespreading devices for creating in the brush gaps aligned with thescrapers on the opposite side of the glue roller. These bristlespreading devices are conveniently clips 44, composed of fiat strips ofspring metal or other suitable material, bent into U shapes; the arms ofthe U converging toward their free ends and then being bent to createoutwardly-projecting finger pieces 45 united with the main portions ofthe arms by little inwardly facing lugs 46. The grooves 42 are shown asbeing semi-cylindrical in cross section and the lugs as beingsemicircular so as to fit nicely into the grooves.

Just as the scrapers can be adjusted relative to each other lengthwiseof the glue roller, so can also the bristle spreaders. In other words,the brush proper presents a face of uniform texture, without thepresence of the clips. However, a clip may be inserted crosswise of thebrush between any two transverse rows of bristle clusters or clumps. Theclip forms a gap between two such rows and, since it has a frictionalgrip on the holder, this gap may be maintained indefinitely. Should thegap thus formed be out of line with a scraper with which it is to bealigned, the clip need only be shifted along the holder until the propersetting is achieved. Because the clips engage the long, flexiblebristles near their upper ends, they offer little resistance to suchshifting of the clip and do not endanger the security of the grip of theclip on the holder. In other words, a clip need not be inserted at theprecise point which it is to occupy, but only near such point, afterwhich the final, close adjustment may be made.

As many clips as there are scrapers are applied to the brush in themanner just described, each being aligned with one of the scrapers.Then, when the machine is in operation, the brush engages only the gluecoated areas 6 of the books, without in any way affecting the areas towhich no glue was applied by the glue roller.

The brush may be lifted out of its holder and the holder may be liftedfrom the seats in the supporting rails for cleaning, replacement andrepairs.

Similarly the rollers 24 may be lifted out, along with their rollerbearings and, if it be desired to wash these rollers, they may bedropped into a bath after the roller bearing units have been slippedoff.

I claim:

1. The improvement in the method of applying glue to the back edges ofbooks by passing a group of them, standing on edge and arranged side byside, over a rotating roller that carries a transferable glue coating,which consists in scraping the surface of the roller clear of glue alongnarrow circumferential bands, registering with the planes of contactbetween the books, before the books contact the roller.

2. The improvement in the method of applying glue to the back edges ofbooks by passing a group of them, standing on edge and arranged side byside, over a rotating roller, which consists in coating the roller withliquid glue, then scraping the surface of the roller clear of glue alongnarrow circumferential bands with spacing between them slightly lessthan the thickness of a book, and then passing the group of books overand in contact with the roller with the planes of contact between booksregistering with said bands.

3. The improvement in the method of applying glue to the back edges ofbooks by passing a group of them, standing on edge and arranged side byside, over a rotating roller, which consists in coating the roller withliquid glue, scraping the surface of the roller, as the latter revolves,clear of glue along narrow circumferential bands with spacing betweenthem slightly less than the thickness of a book, and passing thesuccessive groups of books over and in contact with the roller while thesides of the individual books lie in planes that register with saidbands.

4. The improvement in the method of applying glue to the back edges ofbooks by passing a group of them, standing on edge and arranged side byside, over a rotating roller that carries a transferable glue coating,which consists in scraping the surface of the roller clear of glue alongnarrow circumferential bands, registering with the planes of contactbetween the books, before the books contact the roller and, immediatelyafter the glue has been applied to the books, brushing the glue intoonly the crevices in the glue coated areas of the books and at the sametime brushing ofi excess glue.

5. In a machine for applying glue to the back edges of books, a rotaryroller for applying glue to such edges of a group of books standing onedge and side by side, means to keep the surface of the roller clear ofglue along the line of contact between the roller and the booksthroughout narrow circumferential bands positioned to register with theplanes in which the sides of the individual books travel, and means tomove such group of books positively across and in contact with therollers, with said bands and planes in registration as aforesaid.

6. In a machine for applying glue to the back edges of books, a rotaryglue applying roller for transferring glue to such edges in a group ofbooks moved across the same while standing on edge and side by side,means positively to move a group of books, standing on edge and side byside, crosswise of the axis of the roller and in contact with the top ofthe latter, means progressively to scrape the roller clear of glue alongnarrow circumferential bands so located as to register with the planesin which the sides of the individual books travel, said means being solocated that no portion of any such band makes contact with the booksuntil it has been scraped clean, and brush means in position to engageonly the glue coated areas on the books, upon leaving the roller, tobrush the glue into crevices in the individual books that lie withinsaid areas and brush olf excess glue.

'7. In a'machine for applying glue to the back edges of books, a rotaryroller for applying glue to such edges of a group of books standing onedge and side by side, means to keep the surface of the roller clear ofglue along the line of contact between the roller and the booksthroughout narrow circumferential bands positioned to register with theplanes in which the sides of the individual books travel, and a support,comprising a series of small parallel rollers, to receive the gluedbooks, the last mentioned rollers being star-shaped in cross section andbeing mounted on ball bearings.

8. A book gluing machine having glue pot, a rotatable glue applyingroller in said pot, means to regulate the thickness of a uniform coatingof glue carried upward on the rising side of the roller, 21 series ofscrapers distributed along the roller above said means in position toscrape the glue off the roller along narrow bands extending around theroller, and a brush in position to engage the glued book edges afterthey leave the roller, such brush containing gaps aligned with thescrapers.

9. A support for books standing on edge, moving lengthwise and'havingwet glue on the edges in contact-with the support: that includesparallel rails having open-top seats in the upper edges, and rollerdevices spanning the distance between said rails and resting at theirends in said seats; each roller device consisting of a roller, spirallyribbed and star-shaped in cross section and having a trunnion at eachend, together with roller bearing assemblies surrounding the trunnionsand each having at'the center a sleeve that is rotatable relatively tothe exterior part of the assembly and is lightly held on thecorresponding trunnion by friction.

10. In a machine for applying glue to the back edges of books, a rotaryglue applying roller for transferring glue to such edges in a group ofbooks moved across the same while standing on edge and side by side: theimprovement which consists in means progressively to scrape the rollerclear of glue along narrow circumferential bands so located as toregister with the planes in which the sides of the individual bookstravel, said means being so located that no portion of any such bandmakes contact with the books until it has been scraped clean, a brush inposition to engagethe glue-coated edges of the books as they leave theroller, together with means to form gaps in the brush where said planesintersect the same.

11. In a book gluing machine, a glue pot, a rotatable glue applyingroller in said pot, means to regulate the thickness of a uniform layerof glue carried upward on the rising side of the roller, means above theaforesaid means to scrape the glue from the roller along narrowcircumferential bands spaced at any desired distance apart, abrush-extending lengthwise of the roller on the opposite side thereof inposition to engage the under edges of books leaving the roller, thebrush comprising a mass of upright bristles, and detachable bristlespreaders adapted to be pressed into the brush to form gaps in the samein registration with said bands.

12. In a book gluing machine, a glue pot, a rotatable glue applyingroller in said pot, means to regulate the thickness of a uniform layerof glue carried upward on the rising side of the roller, means above theaforesaid means to scrape the glue from the roller along narrowcircumferential bands, and a brush on the opposite side of and parallelto the roller to engage the glue coated book edges; said brushcontaining gaps registering with said bands on the roller.

13. A glue spreading device for use in a machine for applying glue tothe back edges of groups'of books, consisting of a brush suiiicientlylong to engage the back edgesof allthe books in a group, the brushcomprising a mass of bristles, a holder in which the brush is seated andabove which the bristles project, said holder having an 8 exteriorshoulder on and extending lengthwise of each of the two opposed longsides thereof, and bristle-spreaders adapted to be pressed between thebristles transversely of the length of the holder to divide theprotruding part of the brush into a plurality of sections distributedlengthwise of the holder in spaced relation to each other, said bristlespreaders being spring clips each having elements adapted to snap intointerlocking engagement with said shoulders, to hold the clips in placewhile permitting them to be shifted short distances lengthwise of theshoulders.

14. A glue spreading device for use in a machine for applying glue tothe back edges of all the books in a group, comprising a deeptrough-shaped holder, a brush composed of a stiff back set loosely inthe bottom of the holder and a mass of bristles anchored at their lowerends in said back, the parts being so proportioned that about one eighthof the length of the free standing portions of the bristles extend abovethe top of the holder, spring clips in the form of an inverted U adaptedto be pressed down through the bristles, while arranged crosswise of theholder to rest on and grip the holder, the holder having on the exteriorof each long side a groove extending lengthwise thereof, and the clipshaving lugs thereon that enter and are slidable along the grooves.

15. A glue spreading device for use in a machine for applying glue tothe back edges of all the books in a group, comprising a deep,trough-shaped holder, a brush composed of a stiff back loosely set inthe bottom of the holder and a mass of bristles anchored at their lowerends in said back, the parts being so proportioned that about one eighthof the length of the free standing portions of the bristles extend abovethe top of the holder, spring clips in the form of an inverted U adaptedto be pressed down through the bristles, while arranged crosswise of theholder, to rest on and grip the holder, and screws extending up throughthe bottom of the holder to adjust the brush in the vertical direction.

16. The improvement in the method of applying glue to the back edges ofbooks by passing them, standing on edge, over a rotating roller, whichconsists in coating the roller with liquid glue, scraping the roller, asthe latter revolves, clear of glue along narrow circumferential bandswith the spacing between them slightly less than the thickness of one ofthe books, passing the books over and in contact with the roller whilethe sides of the books lie in planes that register with said bands, andbrushing the books in only those areas that bear glue, to force the glueinto the crevices between the sections of each book.

17. In a book gluing machine, a glue pot, a rotatable glue applyingroller in said pot, means to regulate the thickness of a uniform layerof glue carried by the rising side of the roller, means above theaforesaid means to scrape the glue from the roller along narrowcircumferential bands spaced at any desired distance apart, means tomove books standing on edge over said roller with the sides in planesregistering with said bands, and means on the side of the rolleropposite that on which the scraper means is located to brush only theglue coated area of each book as it leaves the roller.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTSHavemann et al Oct. 21, 1952

1. THE IMPROVEMENT IN THE METHOD OF APPLYING GLUE TO THE BACK OF BOOKSBY PASSING A GROUP OF THEM STANDING ON EDGE AND ARRANGED SIDE BY SIDE,OVER A ROTATING ROLLER THAT CARRIERS A TRANSFERABLE GLUE COATING, WHICHCONSISTS IN SCRAPING THE SURFACE OF THE ROLLER CLEAR OF GLUE ALONGNARROW CIRCUMFERENTIAL BANDS, REGISTERING WITH THE PLANES OF CONTACTBETWEEN THE BOOKS, BEFORE THE BOOKS CONTACT THE ROLLER.